Investigators Fired for Ignoring Pedophilia Case in Moscow

Head of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin / Kremlin.ru

Two investigators in Moscow have reportedly been fired for failing to investigate the suspected sexual assault of a minor.

The 10-year-old girl was reportedly assaulted by a man on her way home from after-school activities last April, her mother, who asked to be identified only as Svetlana, told the Govorit Moskva radio station last week.

Police reportedly identified the 32-year-old suspect after the assault and gave his information to the local branch of the investigative committee, but investigators failed to open a criminal case into the incident, Svetlana told the radio station.

“We went to the police and the investigative committee to find out whether there was a criminal case. Apparently there wasn’t, and the case materials had disappeared,” she said.

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Following a media storm after Svetlana’s interview, the Investigative Committee published a statement saying that the investigator in charge of the case had been fired after an internal probe for failing to “consider the claim of the child’s parents and take measures to arrest the suspect.” The director of the local branch had also been fired, the committee said on Tuesday, adding that the suspect in the case had been detained and was due to be charged.

According to the statement, the committee will continue its probe into the ex-employees’ failure to investigate the allegations of sexual assault.

“Not a single piece of evidence of a crime against children … can be left without the most serious attention,” it said.